Diabetes Around the World

In 2012, about 9 percent of the U.S. population had diabetes, and about 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year, There are major costs associated with the condition in the U.S.: average medical expenditure for people with diabetes are over twice as high as those without (after adjusting for population age and sex differences) and it remains the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.

While the U.S. has a fairly high awareness of the prevalence of diabetes nationally, diabetes is a global issue. In 2014, 422 million people in the world had diabetes, or about 8.5 percent. Diabetes rates have been steadily growing for over 30 years, and is increasing most quickly in low- and middle-income countries.

We asked doctors what percentage of their patients has diabetes, and over 1000 physicians from 24 countries responded:

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This poll was fielded in June of 2017. The margin of error for this poll was ±3%. Respondents were verified, licensed physicians from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Denmark, Ecuador, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United States, Venezuela and South Africa. More information about SERMO polling methodology can be found here.